Field of the Invention
This invention relates to microscopes and in particular to holders for slides to be viewed with the microscope.
A researcher deciding to identify the location of an event of interest on a microscope slide, such as a cell, employs a method of indexing. One such well known method employs a "London Finder." The London Finder is a glass slide carrying a photo deposited matrix of one mm. elements lettered from A-Z along the Y axis and numbered from 1 to 75 along the X axis. The resulting rectangles are further divided into four quadrants and a centered label area. The left and right sides are ground perpendicular to the bottom side for positioning of the finder in a particular mechanical stage. To locate the coordinates of a particular object the London Finder is superimposed over the slide and maintained firmly in contact with the left and bottom surfaces of the stage. The event of interest is then located and the position identified by the label at the center of the finder rectangle.
The system works well when used with the same microscope and stage. However, assume that the slide is now sent to a distant worker and he in turn desires to locate the identified cell. If his microscope employs a stage of different manufacture which is indexed right and bottom, whereas the coordinates given are with reference to left and bottom, this will create an error of an indeterminate amount. Still other researchers may have microscope stages arranged to index left and top or right and top. To overcome the difficulty, the present invention provides a holder which may be used in conjunction with the London Finder to provide positive accurate indexing, irrespective of the particular microscope stage employed.